


The Christmas Promise

by Uniasus



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Dragons, Future Fic, Gen, Humor, Hydras, Immortality, Lobsters, funny angst, if that can be a thing, needy adult children, with scales
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 17:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8905864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uniasus/pseuds/Uniasus
Summary: Scolding a dragon, even one you hatched, never worked well. Especially if you left her alone for a hundred years to be a tree. She turns a might clingy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [ Merlin Carols](http://merlincarols.livejournal.com/) fest on Livejournal! Check out the community on the 20th for a master post of everything we're putting together ^_^ 
> 
> My prompt for this was Silver Bells.

The problem with being immortal was that, eventually, you reach the limits of the human body. Oh, magic played no great part in keeping Merlin’s body young and alive, rejuvenating his cells (as science eventually explained) and hard wiring his DNA to restrict the aging process. In that way, he wasn’t unlike a hydra.

(Merlin had been quite thrilled with that article, about how small, freshwater hydras could be considered biologically immortal. Cells divided, but didn’t undergo senescence. That is, their cells didn’t age. They could only be killed by accidents, predator attacks, or disease. Which, in itself, was very different from Merlin who had survived everything from eating the wrong mushroom to a collapsing temple. But still, other non-aging life. He put money into some of those research programs, hoping they’d solve the problem he had. Sadly, clams couldn't talk.)

(Though, he’d take being a hydra over a lobster any day, if it meant that as he got older his magic grew stronger. No one could touch him by the time he was 25. At 1500? He might have sneezed and accidentally destroyed the planet.)

One thing his magic couldn’t do however, was extend the boundaries of the human brain.

His mind might be young, flexible, allow him to learn new things, and have no risk for a stroke, but it also had finite storage.

That meant, after a while, his memories disappeared. There was no true reason for what memory disappeared when, he remembered strange details from the 1600 hundreds, but it did seem correlated with age. Merlin could recall, with almost irritatingly perfect details, everything of the past two hundred years. Then, things got fuzzy, then faint, and then were gone. If he was lucky, something would jar his memory.

(For the most part, he preferred not remembering everything. He got broody already. He couldn’t imagine having to deal with 1500 years of angst.)

Which meant, Merlin knew he was an immortal magical human being, but he didn’t know why.

He knew the basics. Dragons, after all, were meant to live longer and thus could hold more memories. Athiusa told him there were prophecies, about Merlin defeating a Druid and Witch, about being the most powerful to walk the Earth, about waiting for the Once and Future King, who, now dead, would be coming back to life.

Athiusa, as it happened, had been a baby in the time of Camelot and didn’t have memories to share. Just impressions. So Merlin knew he was _the_ Merlin (of King Arthur fame) and that he was waiting for _King Arthur Bloody Pendragon_ to walk out of a lake. Or something.

Why Merlin decided to do such a thing, he had no idea. Why some of the tales of him were a mix of a mad man wandering the woods, or a prophet, or a wise old council member, Merlin didn’t know either. He couldn’t remember.

Needless to say, it put him in a funk more than once. Why had he done this to himself? What if Arthur came back and recognized Merlin, only to be meet with a blank stare? Would Merlin even be able to find him? Did all the stories that he read (from the middle ages and beyond), as they mixed in his head, paint a true picture? Is what he imagined all fake? Would the truth be better, or worse? What drew him to Arthur, instead of someone else?

Eventually, he thoughts always circled back to King Arthur and why, why, why.

Because, honestly, being immortal sucked. To avoid suspicion, Merlin moved constantly. He had to hide his magic (more than once, he suspected). Making friends got harder and harder, as the pain of losing them hurt more and more.

Aithusa told him, at one point, Merlin had forgone the world and human contact to become a tree for a hundred years. He couldn’t remember any of that, but the incident still affected how she looked after Merlin.

Because Aithusa, like Merlin, was immortal(ish) and alone with her burdens. And Merlin had selfishly taken away her only form of comfort. So, as Merlin liked to call it, the Christmas Promise was made.

(Not that he remembered making it, but he knew it existed and that was the important part.)

(He also had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t always called the Christmas Promise, as he never considered himself Christian and thus typically celebrated other holidays during the end of the year/December time. Plus, Aithusa had a strange habit of wanting to celebrate every type of winter holiday, even those no longer part of any culture (or very different from current forms) on the appropriate days. Which one Merlin had felt more aligned with back in the Camelot era, or even in the 1400 hundreds, he couldn’t say. But Christmas was presently the big, cultural powerhouse and so for the next few decades, that’s what it would be called – the Christmas Promise.)

The Christmas Promise, was, essentially, the one time of year they both pulled themselves away from a downward spiral and rejoined the world (and each other) for a full month. A sorta of pick-me up, if you would, whether they needed it or not.

(Aithusa usually did, isolated as she was. Merlin, however, had been doing pretty good these last twenty years.)

_::The silver bells are ringing::_ Aithusa called into his head. _::Are you on your way?::_

_::They belong to a church and ring every Sunday, Aithusa.::_

_::But it’s the right Sunday. There’s snow::_

_::You’re in the Alps right now, there’s always snow::_

_::The lights are up. People are shopping. There’s a Santa. It’s Christmas time::_

Merlin signed, certain that his exasperation came through the bond between them. The added emotions of fondness and acquiescence made Aithusa return the thought with a rush of joy.

_::It’s not even December! And I’m halfway around the world. Travel will take some time. But yes, I’m flying out tomorrow evening. I’ll land December 1st and once I’m someplace safe you can come pick me up.::_

_::I’ll steal a couple sheep::  
_

Merlin wanted to chastise her, but knew it would be of little use. Scolding a dragon, even one you hatched, never worked well.

He may not remember his past very well, and those question often weighed him down, but December he and Aithusa always dragged each other into the present with the spirit family and joy. This year would be no different.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Merlin's early bit on biological immortality? All true and backed by science. I was particularly interested in how turtles seem to be forever young, and lobsters get hornier with age? 
> 
> [Cracked - unassuming secretly immortal animals](http://www.cracked.com/article_20055_6-unassuming-animals-that-are-secretly-immortal.html)
> 
> [ Science journal article on the hydra ](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4133289/) 
> 
> [ Pop science article on the hydra ](http://www.livescience.com/53178-hydra-may-live-forever.html)


End file.
